Listening skills are enormously important both in and of themselves and as correlates with reading comprehension. Storytelling is a very productive approach for encouraging listening skills. Perhaps the focal point relative to promoting listening competencies rests with generating appropriate attitudes among listeners. Directions for listening to…

Describes how storytelling can enhance both literal and inferential comprehension, motivate oral discussion, increase perceptual knowledge of metaphor, explain and promote interesting language usage, instill deeper meaning to children's personal experiences, and excite children about literature, storytelling, and creative interpretations of story.…

Understanding the purposes of different types of testing is essential if test results are to be interpreted properly. (DD)

The publication of the "Report Card on Basal Readers" has generated a wide range of reactions and this first document issued in the ARENA series focuses on two of these reactions. The two reactions articulated in this debate represent opposite responses to the "Report." The first section, by Constance Weaver, examines first the philosophy implicit…

Discusses the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Cites recent research supporting the utility of both direct and indirect vocabulary instruction. (MM)

Discusses reasons why teaching difficult vocabulary in a selection may not improve comprehension. Emphasizes the importance of teaching vocabulary that represents ideas or concepts central to the reading selection. (MM)

The story frame approach, in which teachers construct frames that become the focus of children's discussions and written assignments, can help improve educable mentally retarded children's reading comprehension skills. (CL)

Presents guidelines for use in examining the comprehensibility of a textbook, questions to ask about the book, and suggestions for using the guide questions. (FL)

Describes four comprehension materials that exemplify good use of instructional language and directions while maintaining high degrees of validity, transfer potential, and amount of reinforcement. (MG)

Discusses literature and research concerning comprehension questions, particularly in the context of the Whole Language Movement. Notes that there are other ways for students to demonstrate their text comprehension, such as literature logs, small group discussion, and individual or group projects. Suggests several implications for the classroom.…

The kinds of testing of listening skills that could be introduced for Foreign Languages in Elementary Schools (FLES) in the early stages of instruction (e.g., in the third grade at the end of 10-20 clock hours of instruction) are discussed. It is suggested that listening is rarely tested in isolation, but normally is mixed with speaking or…

Exploring ways of helping teachers to extend their pupils' literacy, this paper's intent is to devise and try in classrooms a range of strategies whereby teachers might develop the abilities of their children to use literacy more effectively as a means of learning. It gives an outline of the model used, the Extending Interaction with Texts, or…

Discusses five ways to determine the amount and quality of prior knowledge children bring to a topic: (1) free recall tasks, (2) word association tasks, (3) structured questions, (4) recognition tasks, and (5) unstructured discussion. (FL)

Research based suggestions are presented for effective vocabulary instruction strategies, including: learning new labels; learning concepts; and learning to learn meanings. Regardless of the method chosen, it is crucial that students: demonstrate generalization abilities; be given time to learn new material; periodically review what they learn;…

Describes the Metacomprehension Strategy Index, a multiple-choice questionnaire, and its supporting validity and reliability data. Discusses how teachers can use and interpret this information to evaluate middle and upper elementary students' knowledge of strategic reading processes. (MG)